We’ve had such a long, chilly spring that extended into June - I’m glad summer has finally settled in!
It’s hot, and I was in the backyard watering the garden when something fluttered in the corner of my eye. So glad the cellphone was in my pocket!
Can you spy the butterfly? Lol There are three very tall Swamp Milkweed plants in the middle of the daylillies- the favorite plant of the Monarch butterfly.
Very nice! I hardly ever see them around here. I don’t know if we’re just not on their migration track, or if there’s no flowers in the area that attract them. Great pics!
Wouldn’t that be lovely! I wish my yard could support growing milkweed, and if it could, that I lived in a neighborhood where I could grow it without being reported to the HOA
Raising monarch caterpillars is so much fun! Oh, that reminds me, I should check my dill plant tomorrow for swallowtail caterpillars.
@Amethyst: thank you! Yes, your area could be well outside of their migration track. SE Michigan grazes one of them, so we’ll usually see some if we plant host plants like swamp milkweed.
I’ll keep checking!
@Artemisia : You’d really get some trouble from your HOA for growing milkweed?! Silliness. I don’t understand that at all.
Good luck with your swallowtail cats! They should love your dill, and I’ve set out some parsley, too. Fun to watch them come around, isn’t it?
And what beautiful shots they are - these are great pictures, @Feathertip! And such a lovely visitor, too. Here’s to hoping your milkweed will attract more fluttery friends throughout the season - keep us updated!
@Feathertip omg! So beautiful I absolutely love butterflies! You are so lucky that you have your own house with flowers that the Montrachet butterflies can just fly up too!
They’re so beautiful!!! That Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the first few pictures is particularly stunning. The gold and blue color on their wings is really pretty
Thank you so much for sharing, @Feathertip - these pictures made me smile!
I absolutely LOVE butterflies because they always reminded me of my dead aunt…who raised me like a mother, since mine never wanted me at all…she ended up saying she was going to get milk for groceries and never came back…that’s when my aunt took over!
It’s not the beauty but the sheer transformation and adaptability of them that makes me remember her the most!!!
Since a hot sun was getting ready to hit the cage, I decided to move it inside. By the time I set it down and grabbed my camera again, this was going on:
After several more minutes I took the cage back outside. (S)he’s still clinging to the chrysalis for security.
After a couple of hours, (s)he should be crawling around the cage and slowly testing those wings. As soon as I see them fluttering around the cage, I can release to the wild.
That Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the first few pictures is particularly stunning. The gold and blue color on their wings is really pretty 
